[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 9415]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     RECOGNIZING RABBI AARON PANKEN

  Mr. PORTMAN. Madam President, I wish to recognize Rabbi Aaron Panken, 
on the occasion of his inauguration as president of the widely-
respected Hebrew Union College, HUC,-Jewish Institute of Religion, the 
Reform movement's rabbinical school, on June 8, 2014. HUC was founded 
in Cincinnati in 1875 by Rabbi Isaac Wise.
  As president, Panken will serve as the chief executive officer of 
Hebrew Union College's four campuses--in Cincinnati, Jerusalem, Los 
Angeles and New York. The 12th president in HUC's 138-year history, 
Panken succeeds Rabbi David Ellenson, who served from 2001 to 2013, and 
has been named chancellor upon his retirement.
  Rabbi Panken, 49, of Mamaroneck, N.Y., brings an impressive record to 
HUC. He has taught rabbinic and Second Temple literature at Hebrew 
Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York since 1995. He 
has also served as vice president for strategic initiatives, dean of 
the New York campus and dean of students.
  Rabbi Panken grew up on Manhattan's Upper West Side, went straight 
from college to a job as regional director of the North American 
Federation of Temple Youth, was ordained by Hebrew Union College, 
worked as an associate rabbi at Manhattan's Congregation Rodeph Shalom 
and earned a doctorate in Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York 
University.
  I congratulate Aaron Panken as he begins this new chapter in his 
distinguished career.

                          ____________________